I am questioning the topic of ratings... I have been noticing that there are photo's in which have receieved 10's from long existing members who know alot about photography and yet at the same time I have also been noticing that new members come in and then rate photo's down.I have also noticed that this has happened in the past before I joined.I have to ask myself when taking a good look at these newbie photo's and see just where their heads are???I have seen many newbie photo's that are not rated but rather a comment is made just due to the fact that their photo's need work on.When no-one rates in my opinion, it is simply due to the fact that if rated that newbie would perhaps feel crappy if the photo was rated low... I think adding comments in this case is being honest.Where--else when a photo is a good photo and thereby rated by more than 3 ppl as 10... and then a new person rates far below what it actually worth... Makes me seriously question their motive on whether the low rating is a tatic rather than an actual rating in fairness & honesty.

Excellent point - me personally, I've never been a fan of the rating system, so I neither post images or rate other people's work. If, however, someone asked for help/constructive criticism with a specific then I would be quite happy to share my opinion. Very often, someone's confidence can be completely shattered if a 'so called expert' gives them a low rating.